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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44433 Discourses, or, Sermons on several Scriptures by ... Ezekiel late Lord Bishop of London-Derry. Hopkins, Ezekiel, 1634-1690. 1691 (1691) Wing H2729; ESTC R31535 75,889 298

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Epist 22. That there are some Qui sic aliorum visiis irascuntur quasi invideant Who are so angry at other Mens Vices as if they they envied them It cannot be hoped that the Reproof of such should ever take place But when a Man of a clear and unspoted Name shall reprove the Sins and Vices of others his Rebukes carry Authority with them and if they cannot reform yet at lest must they needs daunt and silence the Offenders that they shall have nothing to reply no Subterfuges nor Evasions but they must needs be convinced that their Sins are as evil as he represents them by his own Care and Caution to be avoided Fiftly Motives for reproving our Brother The only Thing that remains is to propound to you some Motives that may quicken you to the conscientious discharge of this much neglected Duty And I shall but name some few and leave them to your consideration to be farther prest upon you And here next to the express Command of Almighty God whose Authority alone ought to prevail against all the Difficulties that we either find or fancy in the way of Obedience thereunto Consider Benefit of reproving others First the great benefit that may redound both to the Reprover and Reproved First Thou shalt hereby provide thy self a Friend that may take the same liberty to reprove thee when it shall be needful and for thy great good And it may very well be thought that the Apostle upon this Account requires us to Restore our fallen Brother Gal. 6.1 with meek Reproofs considering our selves lest we also be tempted That is that hereby we may purchase a true Friend who will be as faithful to us as we have been to him However certainly it is the best and most generous way of procuring to our selves true Love and Respect from those whom we have thus reformed Prov. 9.8 So says Solomon Rebuke a wise Man and he will love thee And in another place says he Prov. 28.23 He that Rebuketh a Man afterwards shall find more favour than be that flattereth with his Tongue Secondly Thou wilt hereby intitle thy self to that great and precious Promise Dan. 12.3 Daniel 12. That they that be wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever And to that other of the wise Man Prov. 24.25 To them that rebuke the Wicked shall be Delight and a good Blessing shall come upon them Thirdly Thou shalt increase thy own Graces and Comforts more than possibly thou couldst do by separating thy self from them Thy Graces will be more confirmed because reproving of others will ingage thee to a greater Watchfulness over thy self Thy Comforts also will be increased because a conscientious discharge of this Duty will be to thee a great Evidence of the integrity and sincerity of thy Heart First The practice of this Duty will be greatly profitable unto him that is reproved How knowest thou but it may be a means to turn him from his Iniquity and so thou shalt prevent a Multitude of Sins Jam. 5.20 and save a Soul from Death And hereby likewise we shall frustrate one of the great Designs and Artifices of the Devil which is to allure Men to Sin by the examples of those Wickednesses that pass uncheckt and uncontroul'd in the World Secondly Tit. 3.3 Consider that we our selves also were disobedient and foolish serving divers Lusts and Pleasures but were wrought upon either by publick or private Reproof And why then should not we use the same Charity towards others which God hath been pleased to make effectual towards us Thirdly Consider that the Text makes it an apparent sign of hating our Brother if we forbear justly to reprove him Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart 1 Joh. 3.15 thou shalt in any wise reprove him So that he who reproves not his Brother hates him Now he that hates his Brother is a Murderer says St. John And no Murderer hath Eternal Life Yea we are guilty of Soul-Murder which is so much the more heinous by how much the Soul is more precious than the Body Fourthly Consider that the performance of this Duty were it more universal would be the aptest and readiest means to prevent Schism and Division The grand pretence for Separation is the wickedness of many who are Church-Members Now our Saviour's Method is that such should be first reproved and admonish'd before they be cast out but it is a most preposterous and headlong Course that thousands in our Days take who cast themselves out of the Communion of the Church for the Sins of those who deserve to be cast out and rather than they will perform this ingrateful Work of Reproof choose to separate whereas if they would make use of our Saviour Christ's Advice Mat. 18.15 16. to reprove privately and in case of Obstinacy to convict publickly there would be as no need so no Pretence left for Separation but either their private Reproofs would prevail to reform or their publick Complaints and Accusations to remove Offenders Fifthly Consider that the neglect of this Duty brings the Sin and Guilt of others upon your own Souls See for this that Scripture Ephesians 5.11 Eph. 5.11 Have no Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness but rather reprove them If we reprove them not we are Partakers of their evil Deeds and deserve to be Partakers of their Torments FINIS The Dreadfulness of God's Wrath against Sinners explained IN SEVERAL SERMONS HEB. 10.30 31. For we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judg his People It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God THere are two principal Attributes of God An Introduction which the Scripture propounds to us as the most powerful and efficacious Motives to restrain us from Sin And they are his Mercy and his Justice Mercy tho it be a soft yet is it a strong Argument to encourage us to Purity and Holiness And therefore says the Apostle Rom. 2.4 Rom. 2.4 The Goodness of God leadeth us to Repentance And certainly that Mercy that expresseth it self so ready to pardon Sin cannot but lay a mighty Obligation upon the Ingenuity of a Christian Spirit to abstain from the commission of it He that can encourage himself in Wickedness upon the consideration of the infinite Free-Grace of God doth but spurn those very Bowels that yern towards him and strike at God with his own Golden Scepter yea he tares abroad those Wounds which were at first opened for him and casts the Blood of his Saviour back again in his Face But because Ingenuity is perisht from off the Earth and Men are generally more apt to be wrought upon by Arguments drawn from Fear than Love therefore the Scripture propounds to us the consideration of the dreadful